Herb & Cheese Pull-Apart Bread

In the begning od year when Aparna mentioned in Facebook that she likes to bake bread and she have so many variety of breads she wanted to make and if  intrested we can join her for making a new bread every month for a year.
Ofcourse when I read her staus I was intrested, I do make bread here at home every few days ( spelt bread) as we have twice a bread here, morning and evening, but I think if you koin up with other people it is extra motivation to make new and ther variety of breads.
So lot is us crazy , enthusastic women joined up and Aparna made a fb group and she gave it a perfect name We Kneed to Bake.
So here we are with our first bread of this year.

Aparna decided this month on Herb & Cheese Pull-Apart Bread. She told we can use our own filling etc... I followed the dough recipe which Aparna gave and added egg and onions to it, i have written them in color.
In a way you dodn't have to follow the filling ingridients as you can use what ever filling you want.
I have seen this bread in blogs but never thought of making them ( that is the best thing of joining he group you make new breads or one you have seen but don't have the motivation to make)
I made in two small loaf tin, you can make one bread but then in a bigger loaf tin.



Here at home we loved the bread, the day when I made I ate four slices so youc an imagine how delicious the bread is, actually if i could I would eat the whole bread. I took one bread to my in laws place and they also loved it especially with their soup in the evening.

Ingredients:   
For the Dough: 
1/2 cup warm milk
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 3/4 to 3 cups all-purpose flour ( I used white bread flour)
1 table spoon of dried onions
1 tsp salt
25gm butter, soft at room temperature
3/4 to 1 tsp garlic paste
3/4 cup milk (+ a couple of tbsp to brush over the bread) ( I added less milk as I added 1 egg)

Click on the pic for a enlarged photo



For the Filling:
15 to 20gm melted butter
3 tablespoon of fresh parsley chopped)
2 tablespoon chives chopped
1 tsp spoon of dried herb mix
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (3/4 cup )
2 table spoon of fried onions

Method: As almost always, I used my food processor but you may knead the dough by hand.
In a small bowl, dissolve the sugar and the yeast in the 1/2 cup of warm milk.
Keep aside forabout 5 minutes till the yeast mixture bubbles up.
Put 2 3/4 cup of flour, salt, softened butter, and garlic paste and the dired onions in the food processor bowl (or alarge bowl) and pulse a couple of times to mix.
Then add the yeast mixture andthe 3/4 cup  ( as I mentioned I didn't add the full 3/4 milk as I added one egg to the mix) of milk and knead till you have a soft, smooth and elastic/ pliabledough which is not sticky.
Add a little extra flour if your dough is sticking,but only just as much as is necessary.
Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a well-oiled bowl, turning the dough to coat itcompletely with oil. Cover and let it rise for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours or untilalmost double in volume.
Dust your work surface lightly with flour.
Deflate the dough, shape it into a square and rollthe dough out into a larger square that is about 12’ by 12”.
 Brush the surfaceof the square with the melted butter.
Evenly sprinkle the herbs, pepper/ chilliflakes and the cumin seeds and then the grated cheese. Use a rolling pin to verylightly press the topping into the dough to ensure the topping doesn’t fall offwhen you are stacking the strips
.Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough from top to bottom into 6 long and even strips – they do nothave to be perfect. Lay each strip on top of the next, with the topping facingupwards, until you have a stack of the strips
 You can put the 2 strips cut from the sides in the middle of the stack so it looks neater. Usinga pastry scraper or a sharp knife, cut straight down through the stack dividingit into 6 equal pieces (6 square stacks).
Grease and lightly flour a 9” by 4” (or 5”) loaf tin. Butter and lightly flour a 9 x 5 loaf pan. Layerthe square slices, cut sides down into the loaf tin
Cover the loaf tin dough with a towel and allow the dough to rise for an hour. Lightly brush some milk over the top of the loaf .
 Bake the dough at 180C (350F) for about 30 to 40 minutes until it is done and the top is goldenbrown. This recipe bakes one 9” by 5” loaf..
Sending this to Yeastspotting